There's a Lump in My Tail

The Real Lump

5 days later

Almost an entire week had passed and in that time, not once did Ye Hua let her do a thing.  Pampering her had become his daily obsession and making her laugh his only desire.  And what made her the happiest was plays which was an activity he rarely indulged in because he hated unhappy endings.  Not that he told her that because he knew she would laugh at him, though thankfully, she took him to the comedies which really were funny.

But it was cooking for her that he found the greatest pleasure, because she was not so easy to please.  She might have had a hearty appetite but she was a picky eater and would not eat anything that to her mind, looked nasty!  So the trick for him was to disguise them in order to get her to eat it which ended up becoming dishes that many Kings would have fought for.

Only to Bai Qian, she took more pleausre in watching his excitement at his growing list of dishes he was literally creating himself, and the smile on his face was all she wanted to see rather than the delishes meals.  Though several times she tried to coax him into have a stall at the Mortals market selling his dishes while the money could be used to buy paper and ink for the local school which to his surprise, she was the patron of.

Only Ye Hua was not all that keen, becuase he had never cooked for anyone else before.

"Not even your parents?" she asked with a sideways smirk seeing as she thought he was lying just to get out of it.

"No one.  Not even Grandfather." he replied with a straight face, in fact the serious look suggested that he was actually telling the truth and she couldn't believe it, because his cooking was to die for.

"Then all the more reason why we should sell it to the Mortals.  I have not brought the school any new books and ink for some time, the older ones would have left long ago, and being in the poorest part of town, the new intake of children will suffer for the loss." her eyes pleaded until eventually he sighed in resignation.

"Alright, but for one day only." he conceded before bursting into laughter as her arms were thrown about his nexk and her high pitched squeals of excitement took over.

"Huo Guo!" she squealed louder as her lips planted wet kisses all over his face.

Laughing, Ye Hua couldn't help but kiss her back.  I loved her ability to lose herself to her excitement, this was something entirely new for him, and it had taken a little while to get used it.  

But, seeing as it was still early hours of the morning in the Mortal Realm, he regretfully yet gently pushed her back to get the pot onto the stove and the fermented soybeans whisked to a fine paste while he left her to peel the mushrooms and root vegetables.

In all, it took two hours to get the pot simmering and to the perfect consistency, then with nothing much else to do except to gather the table, chairs and utensils they would need long with a large selection of clay bowls that Ye Hua had made years before when pottery art was a fascination, but lost interest in.

"Alright, lets go, but you let me do the haggling." he said sternly.

"Then what should I do?  Dish the bowls?" she asked seeing as haggling really wasn't a skill she was adept in.

"Yes, but you don't smile at them.. you're far too beautiful and I might have to fight to keep them from wanting to buy you instead." he chuckled softly, only the look in his eye suggested he was actually serious.

"Pfft.... like that will ever happen." she shrugged it off as nonsense and completely missing the sudden flash of possessiveness that flared through his eyes.

She really had no idea just how lovely she was, and though he didn't think the Mortals would want his food for the tastiness, he would definitely sell it at top price and only because of she would be there to hand it to them.  They would have to be blind to even want to haggle the price down, he sighed in both amazement at her own ignorance and his jealousy just thinking about it.